1971–72 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team

The 1971–72 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team represented Indiana University. Their head coach was Bobby Knight, who was in his 1st year. The team played its home games in the newly constructed Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference.

1971–72 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
Old Dominion Classic Champions
National Invitation Tournament, First round
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 17
Record	17–8 (9–5 Big Ten)
Head coach	Bobby Knight (1st season)
Assistant coaches	Dave Bliss John Hulls Bob Weltlich
Captain	Joby Wright
Home arena	Assembly Hall
Seasons ← 1970–71 1972–73 →

1971–72 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 11 Minnesota	11	–	3		.786			17	–	6		.739
No. 19 Ohio State	10	–	4		.714			18	–	6		.750
No. 17 Indiana	9	–	5		.643			17	–	8		.680
Michigan	9	–	5		.643			14	–	10		.583
Michigan State	6	–	8		.429			13	–	11		.542
Wisconsin	6	–	8		.429			13	–	11		.542
Purdue	6	–	8		.429			12	–	12		.500
Illinois	5	–	9		.357			14	–	10		.583
Iowa	5	–	9		.357			11	–	13		.458
Northwestern	3	–	11		.214			5	–	18		.217
Rankings from AP Poll

The Hoosiers finished the regular season with an overall record of 17–8 and a conference record of 9–5, finishing 3rd in the Big Ten Conference. Missing out on the NCAA Tournament, Indiana was invited to play in the National Invitation Tournament; however, the Hoosiers lost in the first round, bringing Knight's first season to an end.^[1]

Roster

No.	Name	Position	Ht.	Year	Hometown
20	Frank Wilson	G	6–3	Jr.	Bluffton, Indiana
22	Bootsie White	G	5–8	Jr.	Hammond, Indiana
23	Steve Heiniger	G	5–10	So.	Fort Wayne, Indiana
24	Dave Shepherd	G	5–11	So.	Carmel, Indiana
32	Steve Downing	C	6–8	Jr.	Indianapolis, Indiana
33	Jerry Memering	F/C	6–7	Jr.	Vincennes, Indiana
42	John Ritter	F	6–5	Jr.	Goshen, Indiana
43	Rick Ford	F	6–5	Sr.	Cloverdale, Indiana
44	Joby Wright	F	6–8	Sr.	Savannah, Georgia
54	Kim Pemberton	G	6–3	Jr.	Osgood, Indiana

Schedule/Results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
12/1/1971*		Ball State	W 84–77	1–0	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
12/4/1971*		Miami	W 65–50	2–0	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
12/6/1971*		No. 14 Kansas	W 59–56	3–0	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
12/11/1971*		vs. No. 7 Kentucky Indiana–Kentucky rivalry	W 90–89 ^2OT	4–0	Freedom Hall  Louisville, Kentucky
12/15/1971*	No. 12	at Ohio	L 70–79	4–1	Convocation Center  Athens, Ohio
12/18/1971*	No. 12	Notre Dame	W 94–29	5–1	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
12/22/1971*	No. 8	at Butler	W 85–74	6–1	Hinkle Fieldhouse  Indianapolis, Indiana
12/28/1971*	No. 7	vs. No. 8 BYU Old Dominion Classic	W 61–50	7–1	Hampton Coliseum  Norfolk, Virginia
12/29/1971*	No. 7	at Old Dominion Old Dominion Classic	W 88–86	8–1	Hampton Coliseum  Norfolk, Virginia
1/4/1972*	No. 5	at Northern Illinois	L 71–85	8–2	Chick Evans Field House  DeKalb, Illinois
1/8/1972	No. 5	at Minnesota	L 51–52	8–3 (0–1)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis
1/15/1972	No. 17	Wisconsin	L 64–66 ^OT	8–4 (0–2)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
1/22/1972		at Ohio State	L 74–80	8–5 (0–3)	St. John Arena  Columbus, Ohio
1/29/1972		at Michigan State	L 73-83	8–6 (0–4)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, Michigan
2/5/1972		Michigan State	W 83–69	9–6 (1–4)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
2/8/1972		Minnesota	W 61–42	10–6 (2–4)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
2/12/1972		at Wisconsin	W 84–76 ^OT	11–6 (3–4)	Wisconsin Field House  Madison, Wisconsin
2/19/1972		Iowa	W 86–79	12–6 (4–4)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
2/22/1972		at Illinois Rivalry	W 90–71	13–6 (5–4)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, Illinois
2/26/1972		at Purdue Rivalry	L 69–70	13–7 (5–5)	Purdue Arena  West Lafayette, Indiana
2/29/1972		No. 16 Michigan	W 79–75	14–7 (6–5)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
3/4/1972		No. 14 Ohio State	W 65–57	15–7 (7–5)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
3/7/1972	No. 20	at Northwestern	W 72–67	16–7 (8–5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, Illinois
3/11/1972	No. 20	Purdue Rivalry	W 62–48	17–7 (9–5)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, Indiana
NIT
3/18/1972*	No. 17	vs. Princeton First Round	L 60–68	17–8 (9–5)	Madison Square Garden  New York City
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Rankings

Main article: 1971–72 NCAA University Division men's basketball rankings

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
2	18	Joby Wright	Seattle SuperSonics

^[2]

References

1. "Indiana Basketball Men's Database". IndyStar. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
2. . Archived from the original on November 21, 2010. Retrieved October 7, 2010.